One of the most popular topics I get asked questions about as the Executive Pastor of Elevation Church is how we logistically pull off Sundays. Well, it’s not simple but here goes my several paragraph answer.

First of all, we are a multi-site church. We meet in two locations, both public high schools, which are 4.6 miles apart. The reason we do this is not to be cool but because we simply ran out of room at our original campus. We began at Providence High School which has 800 seats and later added Butler High School which seats 680.

Our approach to multi-site is a little unique in that we have tried to create more of a siamese approach to our two locations. We have done this by offering the exact same children’s programming at each campus along with investing the same resource to the sound, video, and other equipment. We rotate through our lead staff both campuses but do have someone who is overseeing each campus. We also have two bands that play at either campus that are also on a rotation schedule.

Now to the preaching… We decided early as a church that our goal is to reach people far from God. We feel that having our Pastor preaching, whether live or by video, was the best way fulfill this call. We currently do three services at Providence (adding a fourth at Easter) and two at Butler.

In spirit with creating a siamese approach, we split live teaching between the campuses. No helicopters or jets, just a car the drives Pastor to each location. Our method of delivery for the taped sermon is very high tech. We simply drive it 4.6 miles down the road to the campus where Pastor is not live.

So let me break this down. We do three services at Providence (8:30, 10, 11:30). We do two services at Butler (9:45, 11:15). We always do our 8:30 service live which we record. From there, Pastor preaches one of the remaining two services at each location live and the second will playback the 8:30 service. Simple.

Our goal is to create five service times that are identical. Three are live and 2 are played back from tape. The catch is that we don’t announce Pastor’s speaking schedule so people simply choose their service time and stick with it and God moves whether the sermon is live or not. It has worked well to this point but we are again running out of room and trying to figure out how to do a third campus.

A few other interesting notes… We record and playback in HD. We use DVCPro tapes and actually record and playback on two decks at each campus for redundancy. We do IMAG (image magnification) in HD at both campuses (2 static cameras- adding a third roaming camera soon) which is not the cheapest way to do multi-site.

So the question is, “Has this worked�? Well, God has continued to bless Elevation Church. Yesterday we saw the capacities of our rooms for the five services at the following (% full in auditoriums – adults). Providence 81%, 102%, 109%. Butler 75%, 77%.

Now as the optimal times fill up its time to figure out what to do next. Because this post sounds like we know what we’re doing. But if we don’t find some more jars soon (seats), the oil will stop flowing and we will stop growing.Â

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

Filed under: Church Planting | Comments Off

Monday was a great day for our directional staff at Elevation Church. We were able to attend the churchplanters.com conference and see our Pastor do a breakout and main stage session. It was so encouraging for us to see what a national voice God has given Elevation Church to impact His kingdom.
Â
Pastor spoke about seeking God for direction on being who God has called you to be in your city. He cautioned church planters to not simply recreate what God has gifted other people to do in other cities. This is a powerful concept that I’ve witnessed in Pastor Furtick’s life firsthand through his preaching and leadership. God has always been his source and everything else has been a resource.
Â
Today is also a special day. I want to take a minute to honor my Pastor and wish him a happy birthday. He’s 28, that’s right 28 years old. He tells me this all the time and I firmly believe it: the best is yet to come in his life and the life of Elevation Church. Â
Â
Wednesday we are taking the entire staff to C3 is Dallas, TX. We couldn’t be more excited. The conference is going to be great and the time we have together as a staff to dream, pray, and set goals is often the some of the most valuable time we spend on conference trips.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

Filed under: Church Planting, Leadership, Staffing | Comments Off

One of the reasons why Elevation has the ability to help church planters who are just getting started is simple- we still remember when we did it. Now Elevation Church is known as a powerful move of God. But two years ago we were, by most accounts, just a good idea.

Two years ago, we had fifty people just checking us out to make sure we weren’t crazy. Two years ago we were just finishing our information meetings. We met in a room that would only hold seventy-five people with a floral carpet pattern. Our Pastor led worship, preached a vision sermon, took up the offering, and prayed to close us out. We feared every Sunday night that nobody would show up. We did childcare in one room- with two volunteers. We could count the offering in our heads. We still only had half of our staff even living in Charlotte.

A lot has changed in two years but one thing but there is one thing that has remained the same. There is one thing that I would say is the number one factor in how God has allowed us to sustain momentum. At every stage of Elevation’s life we have always felt like that what we were doing was the best thing ever.

My point is simple. When I look back at some of the things we used to do I sometimes laugh. But at the time we thought it was the best thing going. “Why wouldn’t someone want to be a part of this?��? we would ask. “This is the greatest church in the world��?.

Now whether that is true or not is debatable but what you couldn’t argue with was how we felt about what God wanted to do through this church. That enthusiasm was contagious and more people wanted to be a part. We have and continue to feel like each and every Sunday we provide an experience for people to have an encounter with God that is the best thing ever.

It’s not a competition for who has the best service on Sunday in town. It’s about giving God our best and creating an experience that is worth inviting people to. The key to marketing is delivering when people show up.

If your people aren’t excited about what you’re doing then that is a problem. If they don’t think that what you are doing is the best thing going then why would anyone else. Every Sunday is the SuperBowl and there are people who don’t know Jesus entering those doors every week. They know when the church (the people) are excited about what God is doing in their midst. They also can tell when people are going through the motions. Which of those is more attractive?

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor
Â

Â

Filed under: Assimilation, Church Planting | Comments Off